Trio powers Creighton past DePaul

CHICAGO, Ill. -- Ryan Hawkins, Ryan Kalkbrenner and Ryan Nembhard combined for 56  points and 27 rebounds as the Creighton men's basketball team picked up a 71-59 victory on Thursday night at DePaul.

Creighton improved to 17-8 on the year and is 9-5 in BIG EAST play with its fourth straight win. DePaul is now 12-13 (3-12 BIG EAST).

Creighton scored the game's first five points before DePaul responded to take a 23-15 lead just past the midway point of the first half. But Hawkins put the Bluejays on his back, scoring 10 of the final 12 points including a trey to beat the buzzer to give CU a 33-31 lead at half.  Hawkins led all players with 13 points and six rebounds at the break, helping CU to a 23-20 lead on the glass.

DePaul got 11 points in the first half from Jalen Terry after leading scorer Javon Freeman-Liberty was limited to nine minutes due to foul trouble and David Jones was carried off the floor just three minutes into the game with an apparent injury and did not return.

The Bluejays showed renewed energy, opening the second half on a 8-4 run that included dunks by Nembhard and Kalkbrenner to move ahead 41-35. A triple two minutes later from center KeyShawn Feazell moved the Bluejay lead to 44-37 with 12 minutes to play. Hawkins made a four-play play from the left corner to extend CU's lead to 50-39, only to have the hosts counter with consecutive triples to trim CU's lead to 50-45.

Creighton went to sixth-year senior Hawkins down the stretch, and it paid off. The Atlantic, Iowa product converted a post shot  to put CU  up 63-52 with 3:06 remaining. A dagger three-pointer by Nembhard with the shot clock winding down with 1:12 left sealed the Creighton victory.

Hawkins led Creighton in the scoring column with 25 points, adding 11 rebounds for his league-leading ninth double-double. Kalkbrenner also had a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds and Nembhard added 19 points and six assists. The Bluejays shot 41 percent from the floor and won the rebound battle, 43-40.

Terry paced the Blue Demons with 18 points while Freeman-Liberty scored 18 points, but he struggled through a 4-for-22 night from the floor in his second game back from a groin injury. The Blue Demons shot just 33.9 percent from the field and made 5-of-17 three-pointers.

Creighton returns to the floor on Sunday when it hosts Marquette (17-9, 9-6 BIG EAST) in a 2 p.m. game that will be nationally televised on FS1.